My thoughts and my journey through life's sweet path

Archive for November, 2008

Remember how I was in a foul mood yesterday? I told myself I just HAD to go out and buy me a pair of boots, not because I want it, but because I freaking need it. I walk to work everyday, and yesterday’s shoe disaster taught me a good lesson: ALWAYS BE PREPARED. My poor Adidas trainers are still sitting on the heater as I type this.

It was incredibly bright and sunny today, and I headed out to the city (cheh, 5 minutes walk away only) with a mission. BUY A PAIR OF SENSIBLE COMFORTABLE BOOTS.

I tried on a few pairs, they felt like Phua Chu Kangs boots on my legs. My legs were swimming in them, although my feet weren’t. My calves are really slim, thus I needed one with a smaller cutting around the calves. Then I tried this pair on.

Love at first try. The leather is so soft and buttery, not the hard cardboard feeling types. Now, this shop that I went into isn’t one of those uppity types. I went in there coz it didn’t look expensive. Max Mara had a lovely pair on their window display, it was about EUR350. Eeek. Forget it.

I knew that this was The One.

But I hadn’t tried on the boots at Geox. Geox is sort of like the Hush Puppies of Malaysia, kinda expensive, but everyone has them. Geox has a reputation for having really good shoes, breathable and all that. So I told the lady to give me five minutes while I go and “find my sister”. I hopped into Geox and waited for around fifteen freaking minutes for a salesperson to attend to me. Thing is, they attended to people who came in LATER than me while I stood there like an invisible person. Ask I did, but they kept asking me to wait. If I were in Malaysia, I would’ve said (*#(^**! and stormed out, but I grit my teeth, telling myself I HAD to try it on, lest I suffer cognitive dissonance after buying the OTHER pair. So finally, I tried them on, and again, my legs were swimming in them. I was never happier to have a pair of shoes NOT fit me 😛

So I practically skipped to the other shop to buy The One. And as I parted with the cash, I could feel invisible little knives poking my heart. But I consoled myself thinking it is a really comfortable, chic pair. It will last me forever. And it’s not like I’m buying designer products.

So I got home and googled the rather generic sounding brand of the boots.

Ohhhh shit.

I accidently bought myself a pair of designer boots.

I SWEAR, I had no idea. It was unintentional. Really. Cross my heart and all that. I’ve never heard of this brand! It was expensive, no doubt, but only about EUR50 more than all the other boots I saw (which were hideous and of lower quality). And it was only about EUR30 more than Geox, and felt 100 times better. I think these boots I bought were of an older season which is probably why it’s much, much cheaper than the prices I see online.

I woke up at 3.30 am this morning coz the HB had to leave for the airport. Made him a quick brekkie of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon and toast. After HB left, I went back to bed at about 6am. I was awakened by his phone call at 9 am; he usually calls to say he’s arrived safely.

And he asked me to look outside the window.

Even in my grogginess, I squealed! It was all white! It was snowing! It still is!

I should stop typing with exclamation marks now.

But its so pretty!!

Before I left to Italy, I was hoping that it would snow this year in Modena. It doesn’t always snow here, and this year, I guess my wish was granted. Although apparently, it seldom snows in November, usually in January.

I’ve been sitting near my window watching the snow fall, it was light snow at first, but it’s snowing really hard now.

Snow 1

In the picture above, you can still see the gray pavement on the ground. This picture below is how it looked like about 20 minutes later.

Snow 2

And right now, I can’t even see the pavement anymore. O________o

My neighbour's summer house & hedge

I was watching how the birds were seeking shelter beneath the hedges and bushes. That in turn, makes me grateful for a warm house.

Ok, it’s snowing so hard now I think I will go make a wish that it stops soon. Else I won’t get to work later in the afternoon!

Crap, does snow make the ground slippery? I know ice does. I hope I won’t slip and fall and make a complete bumbling fool outta myself 😛

Due to popular demand 😛 here it is, our first Xmas tree! Also, making his debut appearance on Whimsicaljottings is the ever elusive HB 😉

One silly thing I was totally grumbling about was the fact that the deco items, baubles here do not come with strings attached (pun unintended). So I had to painstakingly cut thread and fix them to each and every piece >_____<

This is what I mean:

The red bauble at the leftmost has no thread attached

And this is the HB putting on the deco:

The HB putting baubles on the tree 🙂

😀

And this, is the final product, our first Xmas tree:

Our Xmas tree

Mr. Xmas Tree is flanked by Mr. Rudolph on the right and Mr. Snowman on the left. Mr. Snowman is supposed to emit candlelight from his tummy, but he’s pulling one of his moods and thus the candle in his tummy is not very bright today 😛

So I got an email in my inbox today, announcing that AirAsia is starting its flights to London. And of course I got all ape-excited. I even sent an offline message to my aunt in London, asking her to check it out, coz they go back to Malaysia on a regular basis.

I tried clicking away, and I got seats for about RM2500 for both ways. Thing is, I am in Italy, and I need to fly FROM Italy TO London to enjoy this price. Tickets from Bologna (Italy) to Stansted (London) both ways cost about RM400.

So, all in all, the tickets would cost about RM3000 or so.

But here’s the thing. Knowing me and how I usually OVERSTUFF my bags, especially from back home in Malaysia, Ryan Air is gonna give me HELL when I check in at London to fly to Bologna. Their luggage allowance is super strict. That itself is enough to scare me off from this idea.

Also, I would be flying alone, as the privileged HB gets to fly his regular airlines Biz Class coz of work purposes. HHHMMMMMPPPPHHHH. It would be scary lugging my stuff up and down, ALONE, in both airports, trying not to miss any flights. In other words, it would be quite a hassle. Cheap, but lots of hassle.

I thought it would be a good idea to finally use one of those precious pre-mix sauces that I brought from Malaysia. Seeing how cold it is today, I thought a little spice can provide a little kind warmth.

Now I’ve always heard people wax lyrical about Brahim’s pre-mix sauces, so I bought that particular brand from Tesco back home. It wasn’t cheap, probably the most expensive one around, but oh, what the heck. If you’re gonna be living for months on end without Malaysian food, might as well go with the good stuff eh? How wrong I was.

Brahim’s rendang sauce turned out to be such a disappointment 😦 I know that I can’t be expecting the same kickass rendang my mom whips up (heck, even I make awesome rendang), but this, this was such a letdown! It tastes like curry, maybe a little semblance to fish(!!!!) curry even, but nothing like rendang! Bah, I’m so disappointed. Tipu betul!

If I had wanted curry, I would have whipped one up from scratch. Rendang is NOT curry. I repeat. They are two DIFFERENT things altogether. I think what’s lacking from Brahim’s rendang sauce is probably the serai (lemongrass) and lengkuas (galangal).

I have another rendang pack left, this one is a different brand called SingLong. This had better be more like REAL rendang! GRRRRRRR!!!!

Brahim's Tak Sedap Rendang Sauce

See, I was so excited to cook that I forgot to take a picture of the packet before using it. See how I cut the whole thing open to scrape every drop of precious sauce in there. >______<